While some people work themselves to the bone for a "normal life," it seems that the best possible remedy to stress is to just surrender yourself to the universe sometimes. Real life is tense and messy, and the sooner you come to terms with that, the happier you'll be.

As the "straight man" of Mayberry, Andy Taylor provided a much-needed dose of reality to The Andy Griffith Show. While many of the town's residents were up to their eyes in wacky hijinks, Sheriff Taylor was always able to lay down the law and keep everyone grounded. The town of Mayberry needed Andy Taylor. Let's be honest, Andy Taylor needed Mayberry too; there's no way the Sheriff would enjoy a life without a bit of silliness.

Of course, Griffith only emphasized this point during an interview with the Chicago Tribune. He explained that appearances on The Andy Griffith Show could be deceiving sometimes.

"To some eyes, it appears we've got ourselves just an average little situation comedy," he said. "But there's a borderline of insanity that runs around it. Now the nature of my character as the sheriff is to maintain a semblance of sanity. I carry the show's point of view of this little town run in a mighty unique way, this little Carolina town where everybody's sort of inept but happy."

We'd argue that the main source of that "uniqueness" comes from Sheriff Taylor's right-hand man, Barney Fife. Of course, Griffith said that the unusual nature of Barney Fife, his off-beat energy, his strange nature, was a labor of love from Don Knotts himself.

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Andy Griffith was often critical of his own talent

"I'll tell you about Don Knotts," said Griffith. "He created that character of Barney Fife, as sure as he's settin' [sic] right there. Don saw the original pilot, which was part of the Danny Thomas Show and then he called me and said, 'Andy, you're going to be a sheriff, you'll need yourself a deputy' and so I did. I'm supposed to be a comedian - know it? But the fact is, I'm playing straight to Don."

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